Morning news headlines for August 2, 2014

Keeping you up to date with the latest news from around the globe

Hamas: We didn't kidnap soldier

An Israeli soldier with links to the UK may have been killed in a strike on his captors by the Israeli military, Hamas has said.

The military wing of the Palestinian organisation said in a statement on its website it was "not aware until this moment of a missing soldier or his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance".

Israel earlier claimed Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin had been kidnapped an hour after the start of a humanitarian ceasefire, but Hamas has denied holding the soldier and instead claims it lost contact with its fighters following a clash in southern Gaza.

Call over Nato-Russia relationship

Nato must rethink its long-term relationship with Russia and take measures to ensure that its members can respond quickly to any threat from Moscow in the wake of its "illegal" actions in Ukraine, David Cameron has said.

Measures should include sustaining a "robust" defensive presence in eastern Europe, adopting a new schedule of military exercises, pre-positioning equipment and supplies in key locations and beefing up Nato's Response Force of swiftly deployable land, air, maritime and special operations troops, said the Prime Minister in a letter to his Nato counterparts and alliance secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The letter comes just days after a report from the House of Commons Defence Committee warned that the trans-Atlantic military alliance was not adequately prepared for a potential threat from Russia.

Rolf Harris is spat at in prison

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has been spat at in prison.

The 84-year-old was targeted during an incident at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire.

A source said that there was a scuffle and the artist and musician was nearby.

Britain shuts down Libya Embassy

Escalating violence in Libya has prompted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to shut down its embassy in the country.

Intense fighting in Tripoli, including near to the British embassy compound, already saw many staff evacuated earlier this week but now the FCO will suspend its consulate once it has assisted the departure of British nationals.

In the last few days, sporadic fighting between rival militias has spread northwards in Tripoli, including into the area where the British embassy is situated and tourists are advised against all travel to the country.

Bolt and Daley prepare for action

Three athletes who have made as many headlines outside the Glasgow 2014 stadiums as they have for their sporting prowess will compete for Commonwealth glory today.

Usain Bolt is appearing in a final of the men's athletics, after leading Jamaica to victory in the qualifying heats at Hampden last night.

The much-anticipated appearance of the world's fastest man has been overshadowed by controversial comments attributed to him in The Times newspaper, in which he reportedly said the games were "a bit s***" and he was "not really" having fun in Scotland.

'Millions in parking fines owed'

Millions of pounds worth of unpaid parking fines have to be written off each year by councils unable to trace drivers of foreign vehicles, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

Some councils have had to rip up thousands of parking tickets with one local authority - Brighton & Hove Council - being owed more than £750,000.

The LGA said the EU allows European vehicles to drive on UK roads for six months before having to register with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) but the Government does not keep a record of the estimated three million entering the UK each year.

Senior MP condemns taxi APP company

A senior MP who has led the charge against tax avoidance by multinational companies has accused the firm behind a popular cab-hailing smartphone app of unfairly undercutting London taxi drivers by "opting out of the UK tax regime".

Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, wrote to London mayor Boris Johnson demanding to know why Transport for London allowed cars to take bookings through the Uber app without a licence to operate in the capital.

Because the Uber app is operated via a company in the Netherlands called Uber BV, which makes the booking, takes the payment and issues the receipt, corporation tax is payable in Holland, rather than the UK, she said.

Balls: 'Death tax' not on agenda

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has firmly denied Conservative claims that Labour is planning a "death tax" to pay for care of the elderly or a penny on national insurance for the NHS if it wins power.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Balls insisted that he would prefer "all tax rates to be lower", pointing to Labour plans to reintroduce the 10p starting rate of income tax for the lowest earners.

He said approval given by Labour's recent policy forum for plans to stick to government spending proposals in 2015-16, bring in a surplus on the current budget and reduce the national debt in the next parliament, showed "the Labour Party has shown it has grown up on fiscal policy".

Kitemark for simple finance product

A life insurance product has become the first financial product to be awarded a kitemark for "doing what it says on the tin" as part of a new initiative to make it easier for consumers to shop around for deals with no unexpected catches.

The move follows a Treasury-commissioned review which recommended a suite of simple and transparent financial products, which would also include savings accounts.

The review was led by Carol Sergeant, a former chief risk officer at Lloyds Banking Group and the first deal to be certified is a fixed-term life insurance product from Barclays, underwritten by Aviva.

Weekend storms end summer heatwave

Britain is poised for heavy weekend rain and thunderstorms as the barbecue summer comes to an abrupt halt.

Much of the country is expected to be lashed with downpours, creating a risk of flash flooding, particularly in the west of Britain.

While athletes and fans in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games were warned to pack their brollies - Scotland will endure the worst of the deluge - forecasters warned it would rain all weekend.

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The Editor

Mark Thoma

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.